The Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis
(Israel/Germany/France, 2008, 106m)

Comments by Mihaela Mihai (CES)

Storyline: Salma Zidane, a humble Palestinian woman, lives on the production from her lemon tree orchard in the occupied West Bank. When the Israeli Ministry of Defence becomes her neighbour, the Israeli Secret Service orders the trees to be cut for safety reasons. The stoic Salma asks for help to the Palestinian Authority (ineffective), the Israeli Army (indifferent) and a young Palestinian lawyer, Ziad Daud, who takes interest in the case. In this allegory, will David have any chance against Goliath?
The film script was inspired in a widely publicized case in Israel: the case of a Palestinian family who went to court to try to prevent the confiscation of their agricultural fields for the construction of the West Bank Barrier. The film received little attention from the Israeli audience, but the film reviews were generally positive both in Israel and the foreign countries where it was screened.
 

Eran Ricklis (1954): Israeli film director with several cinema works. The Syrian Bride (2004) was his biggest success. His most recent film, A Viagem do Director (2010), premiered at the Portuguese commercial circle.

Suha Arraf (1969): Palestinian film director, script writer and novel writer from Israel. She worked with Eran Riklis in several films (The Syrian Bride, The Lemon Tree).

Film with English subtitles.

More information available at: http://www.lemontreemovie.com/lemontree_en.html